Pushbutton switch assembly with actuator and slider complementary latch means

ABSTRACT

A pushbutton switch assembly includes a housing having a plurality of movable contacts and a plurality of elongated sliders. The sliders are reciprocably movable to selectively actuate the movable contacts. A plurality of push rods extend from the housing for longitudinal reciprocating movement relative to the housing. The inner ends of the push rods are received in actuating recesses in the sliders for selectively moving the sliders as selected push rods are depressed. A first push rod and its associated actuating recess in a first of the sliders have corresponding generally planar latching surfaces disposed generally perpendicular to the axis of movement of the first push rod for holding that push rod depressed. A second push rod, during depression, engages the first slider to free the first push rod.

United States Patent Albert J. Gartland, Jr. Trumbull, Conn.

Mar. 2, 1970 Aug. 17, 1971 General Electric Company [72] Inventor [21Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73 1 Assignee [54] PUSHBUTTON SWITCHASSEMBLY WITH ACTUATOR AND SLIDER COMPLEMENTARY LATCH MEANS 4 Claims, 5Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. Cl 200/5 E, 200/ 169 PB [51] Int.Cl... 1101b 9/26 [50] Fieldof Search ..'200/5, 18, 5 E, 169 PB [56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,819,356 1/1958 Hutt 200/5 (E) 2,831,075 4/1958 Dumkeetal.200/5 (E)X Primary Examiner.l. R. Scott Attorneys-John M. Stoudt,Radford M. Reams, Ralph E. Krisher, Jr., Frank L. Neuhauser and Oscar B.Waddell ABSTRACT: A pushbutton switch assembly includes a housing havinga plurality of movable contacts and a plurality of elongated sliders.The sliders are reciprocably movable to selectively actuate the movablecontacts. A plurality of push rods extend from the housing forlongitudinal reciprocating movement relative to the housing. The innerends of the push rods are received in actuating recesses in the slidersfor selectively moving the sliders as selected push rods are depressed.A first push rod and its associated actuating recess in a first of thesliders have corresponding generally planar latching surfaces disposedgenerally perpendicular to the axis of movement of the first push rodfor holding that push rod depressed. A second push rod, duringdepression, engages the first slider to free the first push rod.

PATENTEIJ AUG] 719m FIGS INVENTOR. Albert J- Germans/Jr.

Attorney In recent years pushbutton switches of the slider type havebeen widely used in many varied applications such as domesticdishwashers, home laundry appliances, electric ranges, automatic vendingmachines, etc. to control various circuitry therein. At times it isdesirable for a push'rod, upon depression, to be releasably retained orsecured until some further action takes place. When the push rod is tobe released by some external means, such as an electromechanical device,the required releasing force is not critical. One such arrangement isset forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,908, issued to Stewart A. Woodward onMay 30, 1967, and assigned to General Electric Company, the assignee ofthe present invention.

Often it is desired that one push rod, once depressed, be retained untilreleased by depression of another push rod. In such instances any meansof push rod retention which requires substantial releasing force isundesirable as it could be vexatious for the user and may lead the usermistakenly tobelieve the switch has malfunctioned. At the same time theretention of a push rod in its depressed position should be sure. Insome such pushbutton switches, the push rods are spring biased to anouter or undepressed position. Also, in some applications one or more ofthe push rods are also mechanically connected to external devices whichexert force on the push rod tending to move it out of its depressedposition. One'such arrangement is set forth in US. Pat. No. 3,384,098,issued to Norman T.

Swetnam on May 21, 1968, and assigned to General Electric 7 Company,assignee of the present invention. The push rod retention means shouldbe substantially unaffected by any such forces tending to give undesiredrelease.

. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly it is an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved pushbutton switch assembly of theslider type.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such an assembly,including improved means for releasably retaining a push rod in itsdepressed position.

. A further object of thisv invention is to provide such an as- I semblywith a push rod retention means in which a retained push rod'is releasedby depression of another push rod.

A still further object is to provide an improved push rod retentionarrangement for use in a pushbutton switch, which arrangement is bothsure in operation and released with ease.

Incarrying out my invention in one form thereof, I provide an improvedpushbutton switch assembly including a housing with a plurality ofcontact means within the housing. A plurality of elongated sliders arecarried by the housing for selective reciprocating movement betweenfirst and second positions A ones of the elongated sliders between firstand second positions in response to depression of predetermined ones ofthe push rod means. The generally cylindrical actuating portionassociated with one push rod means and one recess in one elongatedslider are formed with corresponding generally planar latching surfacesdisposed generally perpendicular to the axis 'of longitudinalreciprocating movement of the one push'rod means. The correspondinggenerally planar latching surfaces are in interfering relationship, whenthe one push rod means is depressed, for releasably retaining the onepush rod means in its depressed position.

Thesubject matter which I regard as my invention is particularly pointedout and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of thespecification. The invention itself,'however, together with'furtherobjects and advantages thereof, may be best'understood by reference tothe following description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a sideelevational view of a multiple pushbutton switchassembly incorporating one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the switch assembly of FIG. 1, with someparts broken away for illustration;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary layout showing portions of one slider and twoassociated push rods in accordance with one embodiment of thisinvention, and'illustrating one push rod releasably retained in itsdepressed position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the arrangement of partsjust after a retained push rod hasbeen released; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side elevational view of another form of pushrod useful in the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing,and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, there is shown a pushbuttonswitch assembly 10 having a hollow housing 11 defining therein aninternal cavity 12. Housing 11 may be formed from any suitable materialsuch as a moldable plastic compound to allow the housing to be molded inthe desired configuration. Theopen bottom of the housing 11 is closed bymeans of a cover plate 13 which is secured in place by means of stakingor deforming terminals 14 and 15 at the outer surface of plate 13 andthe outer surface of housing 1 1. v

Each of the terminals 14 has a portion 16 bent over to form a supportfor a stationary contact 17. Similarly, each of the terminals 15 has ablade 18 secured at one end thereto. The blade 18 may be a separatepiece'secured to terminal 15 by some means such as riveting or staking,or it may be integrally formed with terminal-15. In any event, blade 18has a relatively fixed end 19 where it joins terminal 15 and a free end20. A movable Contact 21 is secured to blade 18 adjacent the free end20. Blade 18, at its connection to terminal 15, is given sufficientresiliency so that. movable contact 21 is biased into engagement withstationary contact 17 until such time as sufficient force is applied toblade 18 to move contact 21 out of engagement with contact 17. Blade 18is given a longitudinal bend 22 throughout most of its length to makeblade 18 substantially rigid throughout its length, with the flexingaction of the movement of the blade 18 being concentrated at fixed end Aplurality of elongated sliders 23 are disposed within. the cavity 12 andare adapted for reciprocating movement along their longitudinal axis,i.e., toward the right and left as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. This movementis, of course, transverse to the longitudinal axis of the blades 18. Asbest seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the edge of the sliders 23 disposed towardthe blades 13 are provided with predetermined high and low sections 24and 25 respectively. As is well known in the art when a low section 25of all of the sliders 23 are in line with one of the blades .18, theassociated stationary and movable contacts 17 and 21 forming aparticular switch will be closed; however, when a high section 24 of oneor more of the sliders 23 is brought into alignment with the blade 18,the blade will be moved so as to separate movable contact 21 fromstationary contact 17. It will be understood that the positioning of thehigh and low sections 24 and 25 is varied between the individual sliders23 so that by selective longitudinal movement of the sliderspredetermined ones of the switches formed by' the movable and stationarycontacts may be caused to open and close.

Reciprocating movement of sliders 23 is effected by manual depression ofthe pushbuttons 26. Each pushbutton is mounted on the distal end of apush rod 27 and 28. Each of the (not shown) in the upper edge'of thehousing 11 intothe cavity 12 and is disposed for engagement withtheother lateral edge of the sliders 23. Asis clearly illustrated in FIG.3,the

inner end of each of the. push rods 27 and-28is' rolled orformed into, agenerally cylindricaliactuating portion '29. It will be understood that,as it is well known in the art, thefpush rods 27 and 28 of theexemplificationswitchassembly arefor'med from flat metal stock having-awidth sufficient to span. all of the sliders 23 in thecavity l2. I

The lateral edges of the sliders 23lopposite the high and low sections24 and 25 are formed with actuating-recesses such as in accordance withone form of. the-invention. It will be un-- derstood that the variousactuating recesses in the :sliders take many shapes so that depressionof anyparticiilar push rod will selectively cause one or more sliders tobe'moved to the right, one or more sliders to be moved to the left,andone or more sliders to remain stationary for selectively cl'osingapredetermined-one or more of the switches. The'particularconfigurationadopted for each recess of each slider'isgenerallydetermined by the switch operation which'isxdesired. As thesliders 23are moved to the right and left (as seen in FIG. 3) in response to thedepression of oneof the. pushrods by manual pressure on its associatedpushbutton; a. predetermined one or more of the blades 18 are cammed soto separate the "as.- sociated' stationary movable contacts 17 and 21while other blades are released for closing itsassociated contacts, allas is well known in the art. a 1

-Referring now particularly toFlG; *3 it willbe seen-that one edge ofrecess -is formed with a-gentle slope, asindic'atediat 32, whilethe'other edge is formed as an overha'nging lip. 33'.

Theinner edge of the lip 33 is formed as aigenerally planar latchingsurface 34, which is generally perpendicular to: the axis of thelongitudinal reciprocating movement of the push rod 28. The generallycylindricalactuating portion 29 of the push rod 28 is. notched to form-acorresponding generally planar la'tching'surface 35 which also isgenerally perpendicular to the axis of longitudinal reciprocating motionof thepush rod 28. The recess3l is formed on one side ,with agentlysloping edge 36 and on-theothe'r side with a smoothly curvedoverhanginglip 37. FIG. 3 illustratesthe relativeposition of one of the sliders 23and the push rod 28 when'the push rod 28 is in its depressed position.At this time thegenerally planar latching surfaces 34* and 35 aredisposed in an interfering or overlapping relationship, thus anyforcetending to move the push rod- 28 longitudinally outward'ifoi thehousing, i;e., upward in FIG. 3' causes the surfaces 34 and35' toengage. This prevents such-outward movementof the push-rod'28.

' Such a force with the exemplification switch normally would beexertedon the push rod 28 by means of an-exter'nal' element attached tothe push rod. Push rod 28is'adalptedfor such attachment by meansof anotch38"formed in the push rod intermediate its ends. Thus theexemplification switch is well adapted for use in a. device such asthe:automatic dishwasher set forth in the aforementioned" U. S. Pat. No.3,384,098, wherein one of the push rods of a multiple pushbutton switchis mechanically. connected by flexible arm toavalve so'that, upondepression of that particular pushrod to select a gentle washcycle forinstance, the valve is opened to admit air to the pump of the dishwasherand, thus reduce the velocity of: the water spray. In such anarrangement the arm interconnecting the valve and the push rod exerts aforce on the push rod tending to move it to its outward positionrelative to the switch housing. The push rod must be releasably retainedQ in itsdepressed-position'arleast'until the end of the gentle washcycle. p,

Referring-now to F lG. 4'there" is illustratedthe-relative positionsbetween the elements shown in Fl G.- 3 as the illustrated push rod 27depressed. This actionch'eing'es the settings of the stationary andmovable contactsand releases push rod 28. 'Asthc push rod 27 moves. fromouter or extended position toward its inner or depressed position, itsgenerally. cylindrical actuating portion 29 engages-the smoothly curvedlip 37. This engagement of the actuatingportionof the push rod 27 withthe'lip37 moves the'slider23 to thelefttas seen in FIG. 4) whichin turnmoves the latching-surface outof its interfering'relationshipwithlatching surface 35'. This: frees the push rod '28 for movement toits extended position. It will be noted that the inner portion of recess30 is sufficiently wide to allow this relative movement betweentheslider 23 andpush rod 28 without'binding lt will beunderstood that therecess 31 well could be formed with a difierent configuration to providethe same releasing action; For instance, the g ently sloping edge 36couldbe provided on the left-hand sideof the recess 31 andextend-generally from the'l'eft to the right 'between the outer edge ofthe slider and theinterior portionjofthe slider in the event it isintendedfor the depression. of push rod 27 to cause the'slider'tomov'eand remain to the left. f

FIG. Sill'ustrates anotherform of push-frod which may be releasablyretainedby a slider such as that illustrated in FIGS. 3and'4. To thisend the inner end of slides 28a is curved into a generally cylindricalactuating portion 290, However, theactuating,portion 29a does notfoldback on itself. Rather it terminates in a generally planar'latchingsurface 35a which is disposedgenerally perpendicular to theaxis oflongitudinal movement of'the slider'28a. Such a slider-28a will providethe samereleasable retention orlatching function of the slider 28;

While in accordance with the, Patent Statutes l have described'wliatatpresent are considered to be the preferred embodiments of myinvention; it will obvious to those skilled in the art that numerouschanges-and modifications may be made therein 'with'outdeparting fromthe invention, it is therefore aimed in the appended. claims to coverall such equivalent-variations as fall'withinthe true spirit and scopeof the'invention. 1

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. An improvedpushbutton switch assembly including: a housing; aplurality of contact means in said housing; a plurality of elongatedsliderscarried bysaid housing for selective reciprocating movementbetween first and second positions selectively to actuate said contactmeans raplurality of push rod means mounted" to said housing" forlongitudinal reciprocating movement between, extended positions anddepressed positions relative to said housing; each of said push rodmeans i'ncl'udingan elongatedfpush rodjot flat stock having a: widthsufi'icient to span all of said sliders; the inner end of each; push.rod being smoothly curvedto form a generally cylindrical actuatingportion; a plurality olj actuating recesses in each of said plurality ofelongatedsliders, there being a recessin each ofsaid plurality ofelongated sliders to receive said actuating portion of each of said pushrod means for selectively moving predetermined ones of said elongated Isliders between first and second positidns in response to depression ofpredetermined ones of said push rod means; said generally cylindricalactuating'portion associated with a first push rod means and a firstrecess in a first elongated slider being formed with correspondinggenerally planar latching surfaces disposed generally perpendicular tothe axis of Iongitudinalreciprocating-movement of said first push rodmeans;

said. corresponding generally planar latching surfaces being,

disposed in interfering relationship, when said first push rod meahsisdepressed, for releasably retaining said first push rod means initsdepressed position. L

2, A pushbutton switch assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said onegenerally planar latchingsurface is provided by a notch in the peripheryof said slider actuating portionl wherein: said actuating portion of atleast a second push rod means, during movement from its extendedposition to its depressed position when said first'push rod means is inits depressed position, engages said first elongated slider for causingrelative movement between said planar latching surfaces to release saidactuating portion of said first push rod means.

1. An improved pushbutton switch assembly including: a housing; a plurality of contact means in said housing; a plurality of elongated sliders carried by said housing for selective reciprocating movement between first and second positions selectively to actuate said contact means; a plurality of push rod means mounted to said housing for longitudinal reciprocating movement between extended positions and depressed positions relative to said housing; each of said push rod means including an elongated push rod of flat stock having a width sufficient to span all of said sliders; the inner end of each push rod being smoothly curved to form a generally cylindrical actuating portion; a plurality of actuating recesses in each of said plurality of elongated sliders, there being a recess in each of said plurality of elongated sliders to receive said actuating portion of each of said push rod means for selectively moving predetermined ones of said elongated sliders between first and second positions in response to depression of predetermined ones of said push rod means; said generally cylindrical actuating portion associated with a first push rod means and a first recess in a first elongated slider being formed with corresponding generally planar latching surfaces disposed generally perpendicular to the axis of longitudinal reciprocating movement of said first push rod means; said corresponding generally planar latching surfaces being disposed in interfering relationship, when said first push rod means is depressed, for releasably retaining said first push rod means in its depressed position.
 2. A pushbutton switch assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein said one generally planar latching surface is provided by a notch in the periphery of said slider actuating portion.
 3. A pushbutton switch assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said generally cylindrical slider actuating portion of said first push rod means is formed with its distal edge disposed generally perpendicularly to the axis of longitudinal reciprocating movement of said first push rod means for forming one of said planar latching surfaces.
 4. A pushbutton switch assembly as set forth in claim 1 wherein: said actuating portion of at least a second push rod means, during movement from its extended position to its depressed position when said first push rod means is in its depressed position, engages said first elongated slider for causing relative movement between said planar latching surfaces to release said actuating portion of said first push rod means. 